The 2015 Annual Reading Challenge Discussion Thread - Page 29

CRussel · 10-01-2015, 12:10 PM

Well, I'm on schedule, just, to reach my stretch goal of 150 books, though I need to pick up the Audible pace a bit to help out. I got in a bit of a lull the last month or two, and didn't see anything I wanted to read. But I plugged along and then stumbled on 14 in my TBR and that energized me. And I woke up to a new Solar Clipper book from Nathan Lowell, so that should take care of my day nicely.

On my secondary and tertiary goals of tracking books bought, amount spent, and updating my tracking list every week, I'm doing "OK", but not great. If I get really busy, I tend to forget to update the list, and once you fall too far behind it's hard to catch up. But so far, I don't think I've missed any.

Rumpelteazer · 10-01-2015, 03:13 PM

I'm doing okay. Not as good as in 2013 and 2014, but that was to be expected since I found a new hobby. I know I won't be catching up in the last three months; in 2013 and 2014 I went on a lazy vacation in November and did lots of reading. I'm not doing that this year, instead I've decided my reading-vacation will be in January. Not good for this year's stats, but it will help with next year's.

The only thing I'm not doing well with is series. I've started a couple of new series lately without finishing ongoing ones. It also doesn't help that this year I've been reading a lot more stand-alone books than in previous years, or so it feels like, so I'm not making a lot of progress with the ongoing series.

Hampshire Nanny · 10-02-2015, 01:36 AM

So now that we're at the 3/4 mark in the year, Goodreads tells me that I'm 1 book behind schedule to complete 200 books this year. I hope to make a bit faster progress toward this goal by selecting books that "read fast". That's generally a factor of the vocabulary and writing style of the author. My reading mood can also affect whether or not I'm reading a book slowly or quickly.

I've read 42,674 pages toward my secondary goal of 50,000 pages. (I set the page goal to keep myself from getting to the total number of books by reading short books.) I'm way ahead of the pace to complete 50K pages.

Stats:

Total books read: 148 (74% of goal)
Total pages read: 42,674 (85.3% of goal)

Format:
eBooks: 117
audiobooks: 12
DTB: 19

By genre:
Adventure: 4
Fantasy: 18
Historical Fiction: 1
Mainstream: 17
Mystery: 64
Non-Fiction: 3
PUF: 13
Romance: 4
SciFi: 25

Library books: 69 (+ 7 KLL)

Progress toward series challenge: 27 of 36 books

Eclectic Reader Challenge: 9 of 12 books/categories

Dngrsone · 10-02-2015, 07:32 AM

Wow, we're only 3/4? That puts me well ahead of my 100 book goal.

sakura-panda · 10-06-2015, 06:59 AM

By Goodreads' calculations, I am five books behind schedule.

I've reduced my "currently reading" list a bit to reflect that I am not reading in as many places as I used to; perhaps I will finish books faster when I am only reading three or four simultaneously instead of five or six.

jbcohen · 10-07-2015, 12:52 PM

I have past my goals twice this year alone. Orignally 26k pages, I am now somewhere aroud 35k pages and approx 120 books for the year which is more than any other year that I have taken the challenge. Ihave set my sights at 38k pages and 150 books for the year, thankfully I have kindle unlimited those 150 books would probably cost me over $230 this year alone and so far I have gotten all that for $100 so far, in other words I have saved something like 60%.

CRussel · 10-09-2015, 02:19 PM

At my current rate, I'm going to easily make my main goal of 120 books, but it's going to be iffy making my stretch goal of 160 books. Especially if I keep reading these monster books! But I at least seem to be out of my rut and starting to enjoy reading again.

bfisher · 10-09-2015, 07:55 PM

I did nothing with my TBR in Sept or so far this month. I just went through my TBR and picked 10 titles. I'm not going to start any other books until I have read those; I reckon that's the only way I'm going to get anything done with my TBR

issybird · 10-09-2015, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bfisher

I did nothing with my TBR in Sept or so far this month. I just went through my TBR and picked 10 titles. I'm not going to start any other books until I have read those; I reckon that's the only way I'm going to get anything done with my TBR

Just remember that your goal is supposed to be a goad to a desired end and not a straitjacket! (Says she who is behind on her own TBR goals.)

Selfishly, I'm looking forward to this, as I know I'll find some terrific reads on your list. To the detriment of reducing mine.... Oh, well.

CRussel · 10-19-2015, 12:49 AM

Well, I've reached my core goal today, 120 Book read or abandoned. Did it with a so/so book from Janet Evanovitch -- "The Heist", the first full novel in her new Fox & O'Hare series. Unfortunately, unless things change drastically, I don't think I'm going to make the stretch goal of 160 books for the year. A good sign that I set it appropriately.

wayspooled · 10-19-2015, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

^Pohl always shows up on the lists so I read one of his for my age challenge, I believe it was The Cool War for 1981. It was alright, but not something worthy of being on those lists, so I'll probably try him again next year. Thanks for the information which I will check out. I think for my challenge I'll go fiction.

In my opinion, Pohl has written 5 or so good books. "The Cool War" isn't one I'm thinking of. The only one that really matters is "Gateway". Again, in my opinion.

The 5 which I definitely remember are Gateway" (1st book of the Heechee series) and it's 1st two sequels, and "Man Plus" and "Jem". But it's like reading Edding's. If you're not going to read "Pawn of Prophecy", don't bother with Eddings, hehe.. Well, same thing with Pohl and "Gateway".

HomeInMyShoes · 10-19-2015, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayspooled

In my opinion, Pohl has written 5 or so good books. "The Cool War" isn't one I'm thinking of. The only one that really matters is "Gateway". Again, in my opinion.

The 5 which I definitely remember are Gateway" (1st book of the Heechee series) and it's 1st two sequels, and "Man Plus" and "Jem". But it's like reading Edding's. If you're not going to read "Pawn of Prophecy", don't bother with Eddings, hehe.. Well, same thing with Pohl and "Gateway".

Yeah, the age challenge meant a few authors got shorted by not picking one of their best books. Pohl and Bester both got duped in my challenge so this year I corrected that with a second-chance author challenge. I fixed Bester, but not Pohl. Maybe next year.

I finished The Drum Tower by Farnoosh Moshiri to get to seven new countries this year. I've got big plans for more countries next year again.

Rumpelteazer · 10-20-2015, 02:44 PM

I finished the challenge I set for myself to read at least 4 books longer than 700 pages. This was a good challenge for me this year since I seem to be mainly in the mood for shorter books (average length is around 375 pages so far).

According to Goodreads I'm 9 books ahead of the 100 books goal. I'm not sure if I can keep up with that, let alone get ahead more, since the busy time of the year has started. I'm certain I'll read less pages than in 2013 and 2014, but that's okay.

issybird · 10-23-2015, 04:36 PM

I hit my overall goal of 120 books this year by finishing up the audiobook* of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire today. However, my overall goal is really just a benchmark figure and the meat of my challenges is in my sub-goals, none of which is completed and a couple of which I'm behind the pace (although not so laggard that I can't catch up).

*My book totals skyrocketed starting last year, when I started to listen to audiobooks. So much former downtime could go toward notching more content!

bfisher · 10-23-2015, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

I hit my overall goal of 120 books this year by finishing up the audiobook* of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire today. However, my overall goal is really just a benchmark figure and the meat of my challenges is in my sub-goals, none of which is completed and a couple of which I'm behind the pace (although not so laggard that I can't catch up).

*My book totals skyrocketed starting last year, when I started to listen to audiobooks. So much former downtime could go toward notching more content!

Congratulations on meeting your overall goal. I understand your problem with the sub-challenges. I probably will not meet most of mine - but it was good to have the goals to help focus my reading this year.

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10-01-2015, 12:10 PM	#421
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,163 Karma: 79742714 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), Fire HD 8	Well, I'm on schedule, just, to reach my stretch goal of 150 books, though I need to pick up the Audible pace a bit to help out. I got in a bit of a lull the last month or two, and didn't see anything I wanted to read. But I plugged along and then stumbled on 14 in my TBR and that energized me. And I woke up to a new Solar Clipper book from Nathan Lowell, so that should take care of my day nicely. On my secondary and tertiary goals of tracking books bought, amount spent, and updating my tracking list every week, I'm doing "OK", but not great. If I get really busy, I tend to forget to update the list, and once you fall too far behind it's hard to catch up. But so far, I don't think I've missed any.

10-01-2015, 03:13 PM	#422
Rumpelteazer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,116 Karma: 24047426 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Utrecht, the Netherlands Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition	I'm doing okay. Not as good as in 2013 and 2014, but that was to be expected since I found a new hobby. I know I won't be catching up in the last three months; in 2013 and 2014 I went on a lazy vacation in November and did lots of reading. I'm not doing that this year, instead I've decided my reading-vacation will be in January. Not good for this year's stats, but it will help with next year's. The only thing I'm not doing well with is series. I've started a couple of new series lately without finishing ongoing ones. It also doesn't help that this year I've been reading a lot more stand-alone books than in previous years, or so it feels like, so I'm not making a lot of progress with the ongoing series.

10-02-2015, 01:36 AM	#423
Hampshire Nanny Guru Posts: 614 Karma: 8064562 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505, Kindle 3 KB, iPad2	So now that we're at the 3/4 mark in the year, Goodreads tells me that I'm 1 book behind schedule to complete 200 books this year. I hope to make a bit faster progress toward this goal by selecting books that "read fast". That's generally a factor of the vocabulary and writing style of the author. My reading mood can also affect whether or not I'm reading a book slowly or quickly. I've read 42,674 pages toward my secondary goal of 50,000 pages. (I set the page goal to keep myself from getting to the total number of books by reading short books.) I'm way ahead of the pace to complete 50K pages. Stats: Total books read: 148 (74% of goal) Total pages read: 42,674 (85.3% of goal) Format: eBooks: 117 audiobooks: 12 DTB: 19 By genre: Adventure: 4 Fantasy: 18 Historical Fiction: 1 Mainstream: 17 Mystery: 64 Non-Fiction: 3 PUF: 13 Romance: 4 SciFi: 25 Library books: 69 (+ 7 KLL) Progress toward series challenge: 27 of 36 books Eclectic Reader Challenge: 9 of 12 books/categories

10-02-2015, 07:32 AM	#424
Dngrsone Almost legible Posts: 1,457 Karma: 4611110 Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: In a high desert, CA Device: Galaxy Note 9, Galaxy Tab A (2017), Likebook P78	Wow, we're only 3/4? That puts me well ahead of my 100 book goal.

10-06-2015, 06:59 AM	#425
sakura-panda Guru Posts: 923 Karma: 9558874 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Southeast Michigan, USA Device: 2017 10.5" iPad Pro (Kobo, NOOK, Kindle, Google Play Books & Scribd)	By Goodreads' calculations, I am five books behind schedule. I've reduced my "currently reading" list a bit to reflect that I am not reading in as many places as I used to; perhaps I will finish books faster when I am only reading three or four simultaneously instead of five or six.

10-07-2015, 12:52 PM	#426
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,025 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Piper College Device: Samsung A21	I have past my goals twice this year alone. Orignally 26k pages, I am now somewhere aroud 35k pages and approx 120 books for the year which is more than any other year that I have taken the challenge. Ihave set my sights at 38k pages and 150 books for the year, thankfully I have kindle unlimited those 150 books would probably cost me over $230 this year alone and so far I have gotten all that for $100 so far, in other words I have saved something like 60%.

10-09-2015, 02:19 PM	#427
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,163 Karma: 79742714 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), Fire HD 8	At my current rate, I'm going to easily make my main goal of 120 books, but it's going to be iffy making my stretch goal of 160 books. Especially if I keep reading these monster books! But I at least seem to be out of my rut and starting to enjoy reading again.

10-09-2015, 07:55 PM	#428
bfisher Wizard Posts: 1,638 Karma: 28483498 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Ottawa Canada Device: Sony PRS-T3, Galaxy (Aldiko, Kobo app)	I did nothing with my TBR in Sept or so far this month. I just went through my TBR and picked 10 titles. I'm not going to start any other books until I have read those; I reckon that's the only way I'm going to get anything done with my TBR

10-19-2015, 12:49 AM	#430
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,163 Karma: 79742714 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), Fire HD 8	Well, I've reached my core goal today, 120 Book read or abandoned. Did it with a so/so book from Janet Evanovitch -- "The Heist", the first full novel in her new Fox & O'Hare series. Unfortunately, unless things change drastically, I don't think I'm going to make the stretch goal of 160 books for the year. A good sign that I set it appropriately.

10-20-2015, 02:44 PM	#433
Rumpelteazer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,116 Karma: 24047426 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Utrecht, the Netherlands Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition	I finished the challenge I set for myself to read at least 4 books longer than 700 pages. This was a good challenge for me this year since I seem to be mainly in the mood for shorter books (average length is around 375 pages so far). According to Goodreads I'm 9 books ahead of the 100 books goal. I'm not sure if I can keep up with that, let alone get ahead more, since the busy time of the year has started. I'm certain I'll read less pages than in 2013 and 2014, but that's okay.

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10-23-2015, 04:36 PM	#434
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 20,314 Karma: 223000000 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: H2O, Aura One, PW5	I hit my overall goal of 120 books this year by finishing up the audiobook* of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire today. However, my overall goal is really just a benchmark figure and the meat of my challenges is in my sub-goals, none of which is completed and a couple of which I'm behind the pace (although not so laggard that I can't catch up). *My book totals skyrocketed starting last year, when I started to listen to audiobooks. So much former downtime could go toward notching more content!